Review: FATHER CHRISTMAS, The Berry Theatre Eastleigh
Raymond Briggs is best known for his 1978 wordless book The Snowman, which became an acclaimed film in 1982 and a stage show which has been performed for 26 consecutive years at the Peacock Theatre in London. However, his earlier picture book of Father Christmas which he wrote and illustrated has also become a stage show, originally at the Lyric Hammersmith and now at the Berry Theatre in Eastleigh, Hampshire until 31 December.
It is a perfect outing for young families of 2 to 6 years old over the festive period, both to give them an insight into Father Christmas’s global challenge of delivering presents all over the world but also a wonderful introduction to live theatre with this brilliantly creative bringing to life of his book.
As soon as you step into the auditorium, you can sense the creativity and design effort put into the production with a beautiful set -in front of a landscape of chimney pots and large moon and instantly realise that you are looking into Father Christmas’ home on Christmas Eve, but what is really exciting and so theatrical is how this room gets transformed into the other scenes. Each element of the set has at least two alternative uses and is slickly transformed. High up stage left overlooking the set is a roof top space where Hazel Monaghan sits and acts as a foley artist and musician. She is simply wonderful, and the adults will appreciate the skill with which she adds the smallest details to the soundscape with a sparkle and delight on her face that makes her so watchable. It is beautifully executed with musical underscores and sound effects such as crunching snow, matches lighting, radio sounds and the one that got the biggest laugh from the children is of course the loud “plop” when Father Christmas is in the outside toilet!
This magical presentation is enhanced by some charming puppeteering by Imogen Khan as his pet dog, cat and reindeers who become the only friends and contacts for the man. Each is brought to life with the simplest of movements. There is also a very good shadow puppet section of him delivering presents to people’s homes. Khan also works very hard constantly resetting props and set features to support the storytelling and operates a very impressive two deer drawn sleigh that rears up as if taking off across the sky. The small children in the audience sat enthralled by the magical spectacle for the 50-minute running time.
Father Christmas is played by Mike Aherne with a magnificent white beard and mane of hair gradually transforming himself from the disgruntled old man yearning for his summer holiday into the jovial image that we all know as he dons his red costume and sets off across the roofs. There is not a lot of narrative to the play, it is simply his preparation for his global sleigh ride with occasional gentle humour, but this is mainly a performance about creating the picture book images live on stage and reinforcing the magic of Christmas for children.
It shows what magic can be created in live theatre and hopefully, young children will be mesmerised by the gentle spectacle and yearn for a return visit to the theatre while having those childhood dreams of Father Christmas reinforced. If they get the bug then perhaps their next visit will be a pantomime, oh yes it will be, and then a lifetime of theatre visits after that.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Father Christmas plays at the Berry Theatre in Eastleigh until 31 December, with further information here.